HAVANA (AP) 鈥� held a traditional rally on Sunday to commemorate one of the revolution鈥檚 most important anniversaries but former President Ra煤l Castro was conspicuously absent.
It was the first time in at least three decades that 95-year-old Castro did not attend the event, and no explanation was given. read a congratulatory message from Castro to his compatriots at the rally, held in the eastern city of Pinar del R铆o.
The annual event commemorates the July 26, 1953 assault led by brothers and Ra煤l Castro on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de C茅spedes barracks in Cuba鈥檚 eastern region. The military action against former dictator Fulgencio Batista failed, but it marked the beginning of the revolutionary struggle that culminated on Jan. 1, 1959.
Ra煤l Castro鈥檚 last public appearances were in June, during an event to establish the Ministry of the Interior, and on May 1 to celebrate Labor Day.
He no longer holds any formal positions, but his symbolic presence is strong, and he as one of the negotiators in talks with the United States following .
Facing a crowd of hundreds of people waving Cuban flags early Sunday, D铆az-Canel rejected a report that the U.S. State Department published last week that accused Cuba of running a leftist espionage and influence network against the United States and Latin America for decades.
鈥淓very day they issue a threat against the revolution, and every week they announce a new punishment for Cuban companies and officials,鈥� the president said.
In May, Castro with murder and other crimes for his alleged role in the downing of two civilian aircraft operated by Miami-based exiles in 1996 off the coast of the Caribbean island.
The accusations were widely rejected by Cuba鈥檚 government.
Cuba is going through one of the worst periods in its historically tense relationship with the United States.
has said he hopes to 鈥渢ake over鈥� the island after his January attack on Venezuela 鈥� a key ally of Cuba for decades 鈥� and imposed an oil embargo that has practically paralyzed the Caribbean nation, pressuring it to change its economic and political model.
鈥淐uba is the victim of a coldly calculated genocide,鈥� D铆az-Canel said during his speech, in which he accused the Trump administration of imposing a policy of 鈥渕aximum pressure鈥� and intensified 鈥渆conomic strangulation.鈥�
Daily are lasting more than 20 hours, workdays have been reduced, industrial production halted, and shortages of water and medicine are hitting an island already undergoing a severe crisis in the past five years given previous sanctions imposed by the U.S. and an internal financial reform that sparked inflation.
Meanwhile, hotel chains , payment processors like Visa and Mastercard and airlines such as Air Canada and Air France have left the island as its economic and financial crises deepen.
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